Strategies



[|Many organizer examples] || that order. ||  ||
 * Strategy** ||~ **Explanation** ||~ **Example** ||
 * **Affinity Diagram** || Have students jot down key ideas or concerns about a given topic individually on separate Post-it notes, then ask them to work together to organize the ideas or concepts into meaningful sets. Have them label each set. ||  ||
 * **Boxing** || On a large piece of paper, students draw a box in the centre and a smaller box inside the first box. In the outside box, answer 'what do I know?', in the inside box, answer 'what do I want to learn?'. Now in the outside box, write 'what else do I know?' and 'how does it fit?' In the inside box, draw a visual representation to explain the topic. Finally, in the middle of the box, look at all the information and summarize 'what does that say?' ||  ||
 * **Carousel** || Post chart paper on the wall, write a question on each page, divide participants into groups, give a different colored marker to each group, send a group to each paper, give them one minute to jot down answers to the question, then have them move to the next page. ||  ||
 * **Celebration of Learning** || A demonstration where students have the opportunity to share their expertise in several subject areas with other students, teachers and parents. || [|Example of Celebration] ||
 * **Clock partners.** || Each student is given or draws a face of a clock. Next to each hour line or quarter hour line, students invite other to sign up as a partner. Groups are set by calling for the _ o’clock appointment. ||  ||
 * **Closing Circle** || A quick way to circle around a classroom and ask each student to share one thing they now know about a topic or a connection that they made that will help them to remember or how this new knowledge can be applied in real life. ||  ||
 * **Concept Attainment** || Helps students learn a concept by asking them to compare and contrast examples that do and to not contain those attributes and thereby determine their own definition based on the attributes they discover. || [[file:Concept Attainment]] ||
 * **Concept Vocab Card** || use big index cards (6X4). Have student draw two lines dividing the card into four boxes and fill in top left hand corner the concept or item name, in top right hand corner they should draw a picture of symbol of something it brings to mind; in the bottom left hand corner they should write an antonym and in the right bottom corner they should write the definition of the word. || [[file:Concept card example.doc]] ||
 * **Concept Formation**
 * Concept Development** || An inductive strategy where students explore data, determine relationships, organize data by critical attributes, and labeling. It is a way of chunking information to be filed as concepts rather than discrete bits. || [[file:Concept Formation]] ||
 * **Co-teaching/Inclusion** || A strategy for identified students to support the classroom teacher with providing accommodations and strategies as defined by the IEP. ||  ||
 * **Dialogues, Hear/Say** || Student A is given part of a conversation, Student B has the other half. Student A speaks, Student B listens and then responds based on what Student A said. ||  ||
 * **Find Someone Who** || This is a good review activity or a formative assessment before you begin a new topic. Create a grid of 9 to 12 boxes with a question or problem relating to a new skill or concept. Each student is given a copy of the grid and are asked to answer 1 or 2 questions themselves. Then they are to find someone who knows the answer each of the rest of the boxes on the grid. They can only get one answer from each student. Answers can be reviewed at the end of the period to verify correct answers. If being used as a formative assessment, the teacher can determine the previous understanding to structure the learning for the new concept. || [[file:Find Someone Who..]] ||
 * **Focus Groups** || Divide the tasks into 4 pieces, send a "facilitator" to guide each small group through their piece of the task, pull the whole group back together for the finished product ||  ||
 * **Four Corners** || Provide a variety of readings or topics, form groups by favorites, participants discuss, each person shares the most valuable idea they are taking away from their group's discussion, no comments from others are allowed until everyone has spoken. ||  ||
 * **Golf game** || Students are paired in groups of two. Each group is given a game card and marker. The game will consist of either 9 or 18 questions depending on how many holes the teacher decides to set up. Each question has its own envelope which is placed randomly throughout the room. The score should be set as followed: if the student answers the question on the first try, they have one stroke (a whole in one). If the student is struggling and ask a questions or brings up a wrong answer the student must add a stroke. For every question or attempted answer, a stroke must be awarded. The game ends when all holes have been finished. The students complete each hole at their own pace. To add extra excitement to the game, have the students actually try and make a whole in one with a golf ball and club after every three completed holes to subtract strokes from their game total. || [[file:GOLF.doc]] ||
 * **Grab-a-Word, Grab-a-Picture** || Listen to, read, or watch a piece of "text" (an audio clip, statement, or video clip), and then from the center of the table, grab the word or image that you associate most closely with what you heard, read, or saw. ||  ||
 * **Graffiti Walls** || Students are placed in small groups. Each given markers, colored pencils or crayons. Given a topic, students quickly write or draw anything they know about the subject or if it is review…the main ideas. After two or three minutes, pick up the products and go over them giving one or two points for solid facts. This is a lively activity so a "settle down" activity should follow. See PDF for different alternatives for this activity. || [[file:Graffitti Wall]] ||
 * **Graphic Organizers** || Use graphic organizers to structure assignments, writing projects, and instruction to help in problem solving, decision making, studying, planning research and brainstorming. || [|Best Practices Graphic Organizers]
 * **Human Graphing** || Once participants have completed a multiple-choice survey, personality quiz, etc., and tallied their results, send them to different locations in the room based on their scores so that everyone can see the visual distribution/clustering of the people in the room. ||  ||
 * **I Do, We Do, You Do** || A KU/SIM strategy of teacher modeling, class practice, and independent work in
 * **Information Gap** || Pairs of students are given a task to complete, but each student in the pair only has half of the information and must use language to communicate the missing information to their partners. ||  ||
 * **Inquiry** || Designed to allow students to be active participants who generate quality questions, solve problems, and develop creative solutions. Students use creative and critical thinking, as well as their imagination, to problem-solve and to research. || [[file:Inquiry]] ||
 * **Inside/Outside Circle** || Have students count out by twos. Have all the ones stand and form a circle facing outward. Have the twos stand in an outer circle, each facing one of the inner circle students. After about 30 seconds, the students will make a quarter turn, move two places and do the same again. Topics of discussion can be key ideas of the day, question stems, real life applications of learning concept, etc. ||  ||
 * **Inside/Outside Circles** || Have participants make 2 circles facing one another. Give the people in the inside circle a question, and have the outside circle answer them. ||  ||
 * **Interviews** || Student A is given a character, role, or perspective. Student B interviews Student A about the assigned topic and then reports to the group in some way (by creating an oral or written product). ||  ||
 * **Jigsaw** || Divide students into groups (1, 2, 3, 4). Give each group a different set of paragraphs to read, a skill or process to learn, etc. When time is called, regroup students so that each new group is comprised of at least one member of the original groups (each group should have a 1, a 2, a 3, and a 4 in it) so that the representative of the original group can teach the information, skill, or process to the new mixed group. || [|Best Practices Jigsaw] ||
 * **Jigsaw** || Students are assigned a number and a letter. (1A). All students with a same number will become the experts of a certain passage. All of the numbered groups discuss and determine the key elements of reading. Then students are reassigned to their letters groups with each group having an expert in a numbered topic. Each expert teaches the others the key elements. ||  ||
 * **Learning Centers** || The lesson plan for the day is divided into 3 or 4 tasks. Students are divided into an equivalent number of groups. Each group has a specified number of minutes to complete the task at their station, then the groups rotate through the stations throughout the period so that by the end of the class period, every student has had a chance to complete every task. ||  ||
 * **Lesson Planning Menu** || A website that gives various strategies for lesson planning. View the Word document to the right and click on the blue active links for descriptions for each strategy in the various boxes. || [[file:Lesson Planning Menu.doc]] ||
 * **Listening Posts** || Topics are posted around the room as “listening posts”. Students go to the topic area of their choice limiting 5 students at a post. Students at the post discusses the topic and on chart paper summarize their discussion. Each group gives a 1-mi report out at the end of the session. ||  ||
 * **Literature Circles** || Literature circles are small, temporary discussion groups who have chosen to read the same story, poem, article or book || [|Best Practices Lit Circles] ||
 * **Mind Mapping** || A way to process and remember information. It involves the integration of visuals, color, words and connectors. It assists students in sorting, classifying and making connections between ideas. || Good for teaching new information from written material or review before an exam. ||
 * **Mixers** || Students are given a task and must circulate through the room, talking with their peers who have a portion of the information they need in order to complete the task. ||  ||
 * **Museum Walk/Gallery Walk** || Students are divided into small groups. Each group creates and "exhibit" product based on concept learned. During the walk, a member of the group stays with the "exhibit" to answer questions and hear comments. Other students walk around and view other exhibits examining the products for similarities and differences. ||  ||
 * **Musical Chairs** || Questions or tasks are distributed throughout the room. Culturally authentic music is played and students are allowed to circulate through the room until it stops. When the music stops, students must quickly stand in front of a question or task and complete it on their worksheet before the music starts again. There is one fewer questions than there are students, so the student who does not make it to a question must answer a question or complete a task for the whole group. ||  ||
 * **Numbered Heads Together** || This is a seated group activity that emphasizes group work while it makes each student responsible for learning the material. Divide class into groups of four. The teacher gives the class a topic, stating it as a command: "Make sure everyone in the group knows.....". Given a time limit, students put their heads together to discuss. When they have an answer, the Checker on the team checks with each person individually to verify each one knows and can explain it. The teacher calls out a number between 1 and 4 and that person on the teams call out the answer together. ||  ||
 * **Pair/Check or Pair/Share** || A good method for checking either notes or homework. Students trade notes from the previous day and underline or star important points, trade homework papers and check them, or compare papers on the assignment they just did in class. If they don’t agree with a statement or answer they mark it with a universal symbol. This is an activity where students can talk (Pair/Share) or not talk (Pair/Check) || [[file:Share (TPS)]] ||
 * **Pairs/Read** || Students read a passage. One student is assigned the role of Summarizer, and the other is the Checker/paraphraser. Alternating stanza or paragraph, Student A will tell the content of the section, Student B will listen and then restate it in his or her own words, correcting anything if needed and adding missing information. If anything is added by Student B then A will rephrase his or her summary to include it. ||  ||
 * **Paper pass** || Each student develops two review questions and writes these on separate cards/paper. They autograph their cards and then pass their cards to one another as music is played in the background. They may sit or stand to do this. When the music stops, each class member must answer the question. Then the card is returned to the author that offers feedback to the one who answered. ||  ||
 * **Popcorn** || Stand and say one word that you associate with the topic. Only one person standing at a time. ||  ||
 * **Rapid Fire** || A strategy for review with questions being asked in a quick, continuous manner to students who need to respond in a quick, continuous manner. This also can be used for practicing formulas, vocabulary, and strategy acronyms. ||  ||
 * **Questions in a Jar** || Students develop questions based on the content, skills, and processes they have learned. They print the question on one side of a slip of paper and the answer on the other side. These are deposited into a jar. The class forms teams. A person on each team draws questions for her or his team. If the team answers the question correctly, they get 2 points. If not the other team can answer the question. ||  ||
 * **Reciprocal Teaching or Each one Teach one.** || After a section of content has been presented, students form groups of two by counting off by As and Bs. Each A teaches B the first part of what was presented by the teacher, providing explanations or sketches to enhance the dialogue. Each B summarizes for A the second portion of what was read. ||  ||
 * **Say to another-** || In this activity, a student is asked to discuss with a partner:

• Tell each other an important fact they learned yesterday in class. • Ask your partner a question about the paragraph you just read. ||  ||
 * **Say to yourself-** || In this activity you ask the student to tell themselves something. This is good for settling things down at the beginning of class, after a fire drill or an announcement, while you are erasing the board, while they are moving into their groups or aft a test while a few slower students are still finishing. Here are some examples:

• Think of at least 3 characteristics of …. • Read the paragraph…and find one phrase that was important to you. ||  || The number of fingers can indicated their understanding and ability to answer oral questions. || || || [|Example of process] ||
 * **Scavenger Hunt** || Good for problems with a definite answer but which still take effort to work through a process to get the answer. Place sheets of paper around the room in a random order. On the top of the sheet place an answer to one of the questions. Below the answer pose a question or a problem. (There should be the same number of answers and questions. The answers are on ta different sheet than their corresponding questions) Have student work individually or in pairs. Start at one piece of paper, work the problem and find the solution or the answer. They should record their process as they solve the question on a piece of paper. Once they find an answer, they must then find the piece of paper with that answer on top and solve the next problem. They continue to do this until they end up at the sheet they began with. If done correctly they should have answered all of the questions. ||  ||
 * **Send a Problem** || Team review activity-asks students to write review questions based on targets and concepts taught. Each student on the team writes one question on a separate card or paper. The student asks their question to the team. If the team agrees on the answer, then the student puts that answer on the back of the card/paper labeled with a large A. If the team cannot come to consensus, the student must revise the question until they do. The team then passes their stack to another team and the process continues. Teams check their agreement to the answer of the previous team. If there is disagreement…they go back to resources given to verify the answer. All members of tam raise their hands and the teacher verifies their answer. ||  ||
 * **Signaling** || The students signal their response. This is good because it appeals to almost any student learning style. Responses can be done with hands, hitting the desk, stomping feet, standing up, lifting a piece of paper, etc…
 * **Sitters and Movers** || This requires two rows of chairs, each facing the other. A teacher with a class of 30 students might have three groups of 10 chairs. Within each group 5 chairs face 5 chairs. One row of 5 is ruled “sitters” one row is labeled “movers”. Movers ask their questions of the sitters facing them. Then the movers rotate one seat in the line and continue with the questioning process. When all 5 movers have rotated through the chairs, they become the sitters and the former sitters become movers that ask the new questions. ||  ||
 * **Six Thinking Hats** || De Bono (1985) created this activity where students focus on different parts of new information: White hat: views the material or topic to gather data. Gray hat: views the downside for cautions, flaws, errors Green hat: has an eye for possibilities, connections.... Red hat: Explores the feelings and emotions involved. Yellow hat: views with a sunny outlook or positive things Blue hat: defines and summarizes and draws conclusions. || [[file:Six Thinking Hats.pdf]] ||
 * **Snowballs** || Students number from 1-20 in their notebooks. Each student gets a page with one numbered question on it. S/he answers the question in the notebook next to that number. Crumples the page and “aiming below the neck” tosses the snowball to another student. Hectic and energetic, but it is an exciting variant to simply answering a series of questions. ||  ||
 * **Socratic Seminar** || A group discussion model that can be easily incorporated into eh blocked class schedule. Each member reads a passage provided by the teacher. The students explore ideas of the subject and question/comment to other members in an open discussion. The teacher's role is to record participation and degree of preparedness of the student. || [[file:Socratic Seminar rubric copy 2.doc]]
 * **Songs** || Songs can be used to help students remember important information such as formulas, sequential order of events, vocabulary and its meaning, etc. Possible sources are found on You Tube and various search engine sites. ||  ||
 * **Station Teaching** || Students are divided into heterogeneous groups and work at classroom stations. Stations consist of skill and concept building exercises. ||  ||
 * **Study Buddy** ||  ||   ||
 * **Three Minute Pause** || Jay McTighe suggests stopping every 10 or 15 min. and ask the students to do one of the following: Summarize what they have experienced. Identify interesting aspects of what they have experienced. Identify confusions and clear them up. ||  ||
 * **Synectics** || A structured group activity in which students learn to think creatively and to solve problems through the use of analogies and metaphor. Developed by William J. Gordon, Synectics is effective in a variety of subject areas when the objective is to develop creative insight and deeper understanding of a topic by looking at it from a variety of perspectives. It is viewing a familiar topic in an unfamiliar way. || [|Synectics example]
 * **Wallpaper tasks** || Wall paper samples are posted around the room. Students group around the paper and write summaries of what was just presented or discussed in class. ||  ||